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CVE-2026-81721 Details

Description

openssl_encrypt before 1.4.9 fails to validate KDF cost parameters in encrypted file metadata and keystore headers, allowing attackers to trigger unbounded memory allocation. Attackers can craft malicious encrypted files declaring arbitrarily large Argon2, scrypt, or balloon KDF parameters to exhaust system memory and crash the process without authentication.

Metrics

CVSS 3.x Severity and Vector Strings:

CNA: [email protected]CVSS-B:7.5 HIGHVector:CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

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URL	Source(s)	Tag(s)
https://github.com/jahlives/openssl_encrypt/security/advisories/GHSA-7894-5gw8-69hr	[email protected]	Vendor Advisory
https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/openssl-encrypt-before-1.4.9-denial-of-service-via-kdf-2	[email protected]	Third Party Advisory

Weakness Enumeration

CWE-ID	CWE Name	Source
CWE-400	Uncontrolled Resource Consumption	[email protected]

Affected Products

Product	Versions
jahlives openssl encrypt	< 1.4.9
CPE cpe:2.3:a:jahlives:openssl_encrypt::::::python::* Remediation No remediation found in references.

Change History

3 change records found show changes

Date	Action	Recorded By
Sep 2, 2026	Initial Analysis	[email protected]
Aug 27, 2026	CVE Modified	CISA-ADP
Aug 27, 2026	New CVE Received	[email protected]